West Texas Rallies Past RiverHawks for LSC Title

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. - West Texas A&M rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to overtake Northeastern State 66-59 to capture its third straight Lone Star Conference championship Sunday afternoon at Bruin Field House.

The West Texas win snapped the RiverHawks' 10-game winning streak entering the LSC Tournament.

"We're proud of our team's effort," said Northeastern State head coach Randy Gipson. "We were ready to play and made enough shots in the first half to get a lead.

"But we didn't really establish an offensive tempo the way we wanted too. Then in the second half we made some turnovers.

"They got out on the 3-point shot a little bit better than we did. Give them credit. They played a real good defensive game and kept us from doing some things we like to do," said Gipson.

Despite the loss the RiverHawks (26-6) will advance to the NCAA Division II National Tournament beginning next week. Northeastern State as expected will travel to Canyon, Texas, for the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament which begins play Friday. The RiverHawks will play LSC member Central Oklahoma at a time yet to be determine.

West Texas (29-3) with the LSC crown received the automatic bid and will be the host school for the eight team tournament.

"Coach (Randy) Gibson does a great job and give them credit because they came right after us," said West Texas head coach Krista Gerlich." I certainly think we had some courageous plays in the second half."

Northeastern State held a 32-26 lead at the half, behind Jessica White's 12 points, who finished with a game-high 18 points, a season high for the senior. She also had six rebounds and four assists.

The RiverHawks turned up its defensive pressure to open the second half. West Texas failed to score for three minutes as the RiverHawks surged to a 10-point advantage 39-29, its largest lead of the game.

White opened the half with two baskets before the Lady Buffs' Holly Isaacs, who finished with 14 points, drained a 3-pointer making it a 34-29 game. But NSU's Sarah Millar, who scored 16 for the RiverHawks, answered with a trey, giving Northeastern State its 10-point lead 39-29 with 17:03 left in the game.

That's when West Texas began its assault, outscoring the RiverHawks 20-6 over a 10-minute period to overtake Northeastern State for a 47-45 lead with .9:03 remaining. Jamie Simmons then upped the Lady Buffs lead to four points 49-45 on a 10-foot jumper.

"We didn't have a good rhythm in our offense," said Gipson."They were pressuring us and we weren't moving the ball the way we wanted too. We took shots we could make but we rushed them a little bit, lost some momentum and a little confidence. And, they made a run," said Gipson.

For White, who was named to the All-Tournament team, it was frustration when their shots would not fall.

"It was hard, because you work so hard to build the lead and then you go dry," said White. "You just try and stay focus. But, we let them get to many offensive rebounds. You think you get a shot, and then they get a stop or rebound, and started building a lead, said White.

Jasmine Webb, the RiverHawks leading scorer in the tournament with a 16.5 average, was held to four points by the WT defense, cut the WT lead to two points 49-47 at the 7:16 mark.

After a WT free throw, Millar converted two free throws making it a one-point game 50-49 at 6:06 remaining.

The Lady Buffs' Ceciley Johnson, who scored a double-double for WT with 16 points and 12 rebounds, drained a trey for a 52-49 West Texas lead.

That's when NSU lost its shooting touch as the RiverHawks went scoreless for five minutes as the Lady Buffs took control of the game, surging to a 9-point lead 58-49 with 1:23 remaining in the physically played ball game.

The RiverHawks broke their scoring drought with 1:06 left when Millar drained her third trey of the game, slicing West Texas' lead to six points 58-52. Northeastern State then began fouling and the Lady Buffs converted 5-of-6 at the stripe for a 62-52 lead.

Alix Perkins sank two free throws, Millar drained her fourth 3-pointer of the game and White added two more free throws to close out the RiverHawks scoring.

"We played hard and I'm really proud of our team," said Millar."As coach said, there were some fundamental things we didn't complete and execute. It hurt us. Now, we have a week to get better."